Want To Drive Your Car… The Government Wants You To Take A Breathilizer Test Each Time Before You Do

(WASHINGTON EXAMINER) Not satisfied with putting federal restrictions on driver distractions like cellular phones, the federal government is pursuing technology to prevent cars from starting if drivers are legally drunk–even if they don’t have a DUI record.

Urged on by anti-alcohol groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Senate on a bipartisan vote OK’d the highway bill that will provide $24 million over two years to study the “Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety,” a Transportation Department project to put booze detectors in all new cars this decade.

The inevitability that the government will get its way is so great that supportive car makers tell Washington Secrets that they are already planning how to introduce the voluntary systems, likely fingertip sensors on steering wheels or start buttons. The French already require a Breathalyzer system in new cars.

The American Beverage Institute, which represents thousands of restaurants, has mounted a campaign to kill the provision in the House version of the bill. ABI Managing Director Sarah Longwell said while the goal of ending drunk driving is admirable, bad readings by the system in tests show that an estimated 4,000 sober drivers a day won’t be able to start their cars, potentially scaring diners from restaurants.

But others in the alcohol industry, including the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, have jumped on board and were able to block the Senate legislation from making the systems mandatory. One industry official said it’s more likely the system would be an option on cars, though some Transportation Department documents suggest it will be standard equipment.

A spokesman for Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., a sponsor of the initiative, cautioned that installation of car alcohol detection systems are years off and that the plan now is to simply find the easiest and most accurate technology. What’s more, he said that the goal is not to stop responsible drinkers from downing a beer at dinner, but target drunks responsible for thousands of deaths annually.

14 Responses to Want To Drive Your Car… The Government Wants You To Take A Breathilizer Test Each Time Before You Do

I am very sorry for the losses that many members of MADD have suffered but the attacks on liberty and the constitutional rights of American citizens is unforgivable. MADD’s answer to an egregious and horrendous lack of responsibility of a minority of individuals is a an egregious and horrendous attack on the rights, freedom, and privacy of everyone! MADD, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves! I am ashamed of you and I will never support you!

MADD is joke. How many times have we read about MADD members getting pulled over and charged with DUI. Hypocrisy at its finest. More restrictions on our freedoms isn’t the answer. Screw the joke of an organization called MADD!

It seems to me that the government wants to control everything people do in this country. I could see this being done for those with DUI’s but what about the people that have never had a DUI or don’t drink and drive. Somewhere some how all these decisions being made for the people by the government has to stop, what happen to We the People.

The ONLY reason MADD got to be as big and powerful as they are is because the Federal government PAYS them a small commission for every drunk driving arrest in the United States! That’s right! Your tax dollars have created a vast beaurocracy that is now using it’s powers to crush the freedoms of EVERYONE. P – A – T – H – E – T – I – C !!!!

i love the idea of freedom as much as anyone. this being said i must say that the idea of such a device is a good one. i cannot tell you of the many times i witness idiots who crawl behind the wheel to drive their drunk-asses home after a punishing night of alcohol consumption. they make it home wothout killing themselves or, god forbid, some innocent person who is just driving , or even WALKING, with the distinct purpose of getting home to their family. it’s only the "unlucky" who get caught that make the statistics. to those of you who do not like this idea and feel your "freedoms" should trump any government access into your personal lives {seatbelts} i bet my ass you would feel differently if you got a call that you wife, husband, son, daughter, sister, brother or whomever you feel any human connection to was just killed by a drunk. oh, and by the way, this was his/ her sixth offense. thanks to his "rights" and legal bullshit, he/she was able to repeat this harmless act. knock off your glenn beck, micheal savage b.s. and realize that certain personal sacrifices require enactment in order to subdue tradgedies such that drunk morons cause. get pissed at the drunk, not the attempt to fix the situation!

paul. spoken like the criminal lawyer you sound like. i am not a victim of any trauma, thank the Creator. i am, however, one who sees wisdom in utilizing the human trait called logic. you see, paul, logic says that if society can prevent unnecessary death due to the negligence of an idiot, by not letting the idiot persue his/ her desire, we should and must act on it. this particular discussion has many alternative paths that can result in similar outcomes. we could raise the price of liquor. not fair to those of us who enjoy it, responsibly. we could tax establishments that serve such beverages. again, not fair to the businesses that have no intention of sending off in a car an incoherent idiot. they are just providing a product. perhaps a 3 drink maximum? easy to get around. but to have some kind of detection device installed within the mechanics of a vehicle…brilliant. let me be the one to advise how it works. we must put a stop to the narcissistic attitude that "i’m fine", when it comes to driving in any condition other than clear-headed. that’s all i’m saying.

Whatever, let them do it. We’ll find ways around that system just like we always find ways to circumvent government bullshit. They can’t make anything foolproof technologically anyhow, Iphones were being hacked within the first week of release, so bring it on!

Really? Tell that miserable fuch in the White House that he PERSONALLY has run over and killed over half a million people since he took office and injured three times that. And supervised the radioactive contamination and oil spill mess over half the planet while most of America does something weird in front of a TV-set. Leave me alone and BAN the CFRtv.

Sam, don’t know where you get your numbers from, but according to CDC the of DUI drivers is $51 billion. A prohibitive cost but not the $290 b you quoted.http://www.cdc.gov/MotorVehicleSafety/Impaired_Driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html
The cost of these units is horrendous, I imagine it has more to do with selling a product than road safety. It’s always about the money (and no I am not a drunk driver charged or not).

As many cars as I’ve serviced in the past where there were mostly men with these things in their vehicles…how embarrassing it was for them to have to blow just to get their vehicle into the shop to have it looked at and now aww look…the good thing? the mothers against drunk driving (god bless them I know why they are doing it, I’m sure they’ve lost children because of drunk assholes driving while intoxicating killing their kids and or husbands or loved ones) they will themselves have to blow into this thing to start their own vehicles as well…not saying it’s a victory or even a haha told u so but…people are going to learn one way or another…once you force to take away peoples RIGHTS not privileges…this isn’t cable or xbox live…people RELY on transportation especially in rural areas to get to and from work to provide a living to their families…that’s not a privilege but a right…now those rights can be taken away if you carelessly chose to drive like a maniac almost killing people or under the influence etc but people need to get that straight.